When you have the temerity to dub yourself "The Real Deal" you'd better be good. Luckily for the Penguins sniper he lives up to the self-applied moniker and then some.

A second round pick of the Dallas Stars back in 2005, James Neal was something of a late bloomer, laboring for three years in junior as a member of the OHL's Plymouth Whalers, and spending an additional season with the AHL's Iowa Stars before finally cracking the big club in the 2008-09 season.

He had an impressive rookie campaign for the Stars, demonstrating not only the abilities of a natural sniper, netting 24 goals, but also a willingness to go to the net hard and get his nose dirty in the corners as well.

The following season he continued to twinkle the twine, potting 27 goals and notching 55 points as his progression towards NHL superstar continued. In 2010-11 he continued to fill the net. However, with the emergence of another young star - Jamie Benn - Neal was considered expendable, and was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that brought much needed defensive help in the form of Alex Gologoski, the other way.

Expectations were sky high for Neal upon his arrival in Pittsburgh. A natural shooter, it seemed likely that he would fill the net playing with gifted passers like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, he struggled to find chemistry throughout the remainder of that season, scoring just a single goal and six points in the final 20 games of the campaign.

The next year was a completely different story. Neal became firmly ensconced alongside Evgeni Malkin and it was evident from the get-go that the two had sorted out their chemistry problems. They were arguably the best duo in the league that year, with Neal registering 40 goals and 81 points.

This year, Neal is back with a vengeance. Though his assists are down, he is rippling the mesh at a prolific rate, with 13 goals in 20 games to date. If he can continue to score at this rate for the remainder of his contract the Penguins will have to be very happy with the "Bang for their buck" they are getting from Neal, who now looks like at steal at $5 million a season.